WhatsApp May Soon Let You Export Backups Stored on Google Drive

WhatsApp is found to be working on an option to let users export their chat backups stored on Google Drive. The update would allow users to have their chat stored offline. The change has been reported to be in the works for Android users at this moment. Separately, WhatsApp has been spotted testing the ability to let its business users view the information of the device from where a message has been sent through their accounts. This will be useful for businesses given that they have multi-device support on WhatsApp — just like regular users.

According to a report by WhatsApp beta tracker WABetaInfo, the instant messaging app is working on the option to let users export their chat backups from Google Drive to the local storage of their devices. The backup is said to have full chat history, including messages, images, videos, and other media files.

WABetaInfo has shared a screenshot to give us a glimpse of the feature that is yet to be available even to beta testers. The screenshot shows that users would get an Export backup option in the Chat backup settings to let them move their backups from Google Drive.

WhatsApp is spotted working on an ‘Export backup’ option for Android users
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

It is reported by the source that in addition to allowing users to export chat backups, WhatsApp would introduce an option to import backups on Google Drive.

Earlier this year, WABetaInfo reported that WhatsApp backups on Google Drive would get limited storage allocation. The new discovery in that scenario would allow users to import their chat backups if they reach the particular threshold on Google Drive and store their backed-up data offline on their device. Users may also be able to upload their chat backups back to Google Drive when they have adequate space available.

Exact details on when WhatsApp would enable the option to export backups from Google Drive are yet to be revealed. It is also unclear whether WhatsApp would prefer allowing iOS users to export their backups stored on iCloud in a similar fashion.

In addition to the export backups option, WhatsApp has started testing the ability for its business users to let them view device information about their outgoing messages if there are other linked devices accessing the same account.

WABetaInfo reports that the change has been rolled out through WhatsApp Business for Android beta version 2.22.13.10 and WhatsApp Business for iOS beta version 22.12.0.73. It is also said to be in testing for businesses accessing the app using a desktop.

A couple of screenshots shared by WABetaInfo show that users will be able to see the name of the linked device from where the message was sent in the chats thread.

WhatsApp is testing an ability to let business users see from where they’ve sent a message
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

In the case of iOS, the screenshot suggests that users would see the word ‘Admin’ alongside the name of the device to indicate that the message was sent by a particular device.

The change is useful for businesses who are using the same account on multiple devices. It would allow them to track the device used for sending a particular message.